Total Contamination
by odmonkey
Summary: Most of the first wave of the walking dead in any city tend to be wearing white coats and scrubs.  A war against the dead is one where hospital staff are on the front lines.  Featuring OCs, the Dixons and all the major players.
1. Chapter 1

A few disclaimers: I don't own anything. I don't know zip about hospitals or surgery. I certainly don't know much about America either. So excuse all the misinformation.

The Walking Dead just finished over here and man what a series! Of course it's my exams so I'm desperate to do anything other than revise so this story came into mind. Inserted characters that only suck a little bit, they're a first for me so go light on them. Love the Dixons so expect them to feature heavily. I mean, call me old fashioned but I never thought of rednecks as being in anyway who you'd want to hang around with, but hey the end of the world is the end of the world, beggars can't be choosers.

Hope ya'll enjoy.

XXXXX

2 Weeks Before Total Contamination – Atlanta General Hospital

"You go on and get scrubbed up, Ellie'll tell you what to do when ya get in there. Better listen to everything she says or she'll chew ya out."

Timothy, a surgery student on his first placement, nodded with a thick swallow. It was his first day getting to go into surgery and he was real nervous. Sure he'd seen operations on tv and that but to actually be in the room while the surgeons saved someone's life?

"Tick tock son! Got a man on the table here!"

He rushed into the soaping up room where he was met with the two surgeons who he'd be watching work. George, the hulking anaesthetist, lumbered in after him and started washing up too. A steady stream of banter went right over his head as he scrubbed his arms harder than he'd ever done before.

The female surgeon stretched out the kinks in her back before slipping into her apron. Timothy watched her rather apprehensively; Ellie had a real talent for patching people back together but she had a bit of a reputation as a battle axe. He was going to learn from the best but the rest of his class had a bet on that she'd make him cry before the end of his time at the hospital. The other surgeon was a very slim man Timothy knew as CJ, he'd been warned the man had a wicked sense of humour and wasn't above paging trainees in the middle of the night and ordering them to empty ORs before they realised what he was up to.

"What we got today George?" CJ tied his mask on before heading into the room where their assistant was hooking a bleeding man up to the heart monitors.

"Pick and Stick, cop got shot just outside of town."

"Someone shot, in Atlanta? Well really, how unusual." CJ drawled.

Timothy cleared his throat a little awkwardly; they were supposed to be explaining what they'd be doing.

Ellie looked over him critically, "Right kid, just relax, we were all you once so quit being so tense."

George checked the man's vitals before slipping the mask over his mouth and nose and regulating the flow. "It's harder once they're unconscious 'cos they can't count backwards for ya. But hell, I'm a professional" he winked good-naturedly at the skinny little trainee. That cliché of knowing you're old when the policemen look young applied even more to the medical world. Still, only twenty years 'til retirement.

Ellie and CJ rolled their eyes at each other, George was thinking about his pension again.

"Righto son, what was it, Tim? Something nice and simple for your first surgery, nothing too awful. If you're gon' throw make sure it ain't over the patient. Clear?" CJ checked the paramedic report again while Ellie pulled away the bloodied pads staunching the blood flow.

She looked up at Timothy who'd gone a little green on being faced by actual blood. "Just a pick and stick, bullet's broken into three but they're not too deep. Officer here got lucky; his rib took most of the force and stopped it tearing his lung."

"Umm, pick and stick?" Timothy found his voice to be a little hoarse with the effort it took to stop shaking.

"Yeah, pick out the bits and stick him back together. Now pass me that scalpel and for gawd's sake don't hover."

It only took around twenty minutes for CJ and Ellie to find the three bits and remove them. The suturing took a little longer but all in all it seemed to Timothy's great relief to just be the simple operation they said it would be. The cop's vitals stayed a relatively normal level and he only needed a couple of extra pints to get him through. It didn't seem anything like what happened on the tv with flickering lights and crash carts and lots of shouting. He said as much to his colleagues who laughed aloud.

"Well of course it ain't like that kid, I mean Jesus, who would want to watch this? Boring as hell."

"It can get pretty hairy but I wouldn't worry, ya won't get much action for a long time yet. Passing us shit will be all you get do 'til we think ya can hack it."

Ellie nodded along with CJ, "Ya'll be so sick of it ya'll be praying for all a' us to go down with flu or something so ya can get a go."

They all stripped out of their aprons, even Timothy's had a little blood on it which made him happier than it probably should have. CJ broke off outside the doors saying he was off for his daily session of trying to convince Mrs Toby that she needed to have the corrective foot surgery. George yawned into his massive hand and wandered away in the direction of the cafeteria muttering about youngn's not needing coffee to get them through the day.

Timothy winced, expecting Ellie to lay into him in a real tough love sort of way.

"Ya did good today kid, no stupid questions and ya weren't all up in our shit like the last one we had..."

She was interrupted by a frantic man in a small town cop's uniform coming over and grabbing her elbow. "Ya Doctor Taylor? Is he ok?"

Ellie nodded, pasting on her dealing with relatives smile. "He's gon' be just fine, won't be awake for a good long while though."

"Do ya know where he is?" The man ran his hand through his hair and Timothy saw his hands were covered in dried blood, same with the front of his uniform.

"Naw I dunno right now, ain't someone told ya where ya can get cleaned up?"

"You dunno?" The man's voice rose a little and Timothy took a little step back and behind Ellie.

"Look, soon as they go out mah doors they're ICU's deal. Here I'll check for ya iffen ya go down the hall two doors and wash most a' that blood off. People are gon' think ya a damn serial killer or somethin'." She smirked at him and he seemed to calm a bit, nodding before heading off to where she said.

Timothy followed her over to the main desk where she found out the room number and stood awkwardly while she chatted to the receptionist. It was with a small sense of relief when he saw the officer striding towards them, looking a lot cleaner and less haggard.

Ellie smiled up at him, Timothy hadn't noticed how short she was before, something about her reputation made her seem bigger and scarier than she was. "He's along in recovery room 34, it's jus' a little way down the hall on ya left there. Iffen ya need anything call for Dr Simmons, he's the one looking after him."

The cop looked really grateful and shook her hand, thanking her over and over for saving his buddy's life. Ellie waved him away, "Ah hell, it's mah job ta put you boys back together, don't stay too long hasslin' the poor boy now."

The cop laughed, mostly out of relief and rushed away to see his friend. Timothy was just about to open his mouth and ask her what she was saying when the other Dr Taylor appeared through the main doors clutching his customary Starbucks.

Ellie waved him over. "Hey Johnny, this is Timothy, he's mah new shadow. Timothy this mah big brother Johnny, best damn hospital consultant in the world."

Timothy didn't say that he was well aware who Dr Taylor was or that pretty much every girl in his class had a crush on the handsome doctor. There was even a rumour going around the lovesick girls that he had a twin brother who was just as good looking. Despite the difference in height with Johnny standing well over six foot there would be no mistaking they were brother and sister. They both had the same black hair, dark blue eyes and angular noses. Although Johnny had a jaw strong enough to get him a modelling career.

Johnny sipped his coffee and shook the boy's hand. Gawd they were sending them over here young weren't they? Hardly seemed two minutes since this was Ellie looking all nervous in badly fitting scrubs, hard to believe she was nearing thirty. He looked a little terrified to be standing with his baby sister, not that he blamed him. 'Hurricane Ellie' was a recognised phenomenon in these parts where she sure made up for being only 5'3" with serious volume.

"I gotta get on mah rounds but ya'll be pleased ta hear Danger Merle's outside, leastways I think it's him. Ya know anyone else with an Imperial Cross on their pick-up?"

"Ah Christ, I'll get right on it. Here was me thinkin' I'd get away on time. Have fun Johnny, I'll see ya tomorrow."

Johnny waved and strode away down the corridor, the eyes of all the women following him. Timothy wondered if he would suit a dark green polo-neck like that.

"Righto kid, I'm away to see what the Dixons have done this time. I wanna see you this time tomorrow unless there's an emergency ok?"

He nodded and watched as she picked up a heavy medkit from behind the desk and headed out towards a blue pickup. Now what was he going to do with himself?

XXXXX

Merle sang along to the radio and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, not seeming to care that all the skin was torn up around his knuckles. He also didn't seem to care that his brother was propped up against the door with a probable concussion and a cheek that was bleeding through the filthy handkerchief pressed up against it. Still, it had been seven on two, they'd done ok. Looking out of the window he saw Ellie coming over with the familiar medical hold all. She was a real Godsend now they were banned from the hospital.

"Yo yo sugartits!" She always looked mighty unimpressed when he called her that, sure though, she looked mighty unimpressed with them most of the time.

"Shurrup Merle. Iffen ya need patched up come sit on the flatbed."

He bounced out of the door and went round to drag Daryl to his feet and over to where she'd opened the medkit and pulled some gloves on. She hissed through her teeth when she saw the state of the younger Dixon's face. She didn't know how these boys took all this punishment and stayed standing. Course, Daryl's pupils couldn't be more different in size right now and Merle was clearly higher than hell.

"Jesus Christ, sit down Daryl, that cheek'll need stitches. And what have I told you boys about putting dirty as hell rags on cuts? Christ, it's like ya'll want infections!"

Daryl listed alarmingly and Merle had to take his weight and lower him down into a sitting position against the side of flatbed. Merle's head was buzzing and for some reason he was in a really good mood. Winning a bar fight in the middle of the day was clearly good for ya. Plus being fussed over by one of the few bitches he could stand didn't hurt neither.

Daryl's head was buzzing too and he'd gone completely deaf in his left ear it was so swollen. He could barely focus on what Ellie was talking about and when he tried to follow her finger he couldn't feel his eyes moving where he wanted them to go. He could vaguely hear his brother laughing and his temper started to boil – how come it was always him that ended up in worse shape than Merle? He'd seen a guy swing a snooker cue at Merle from behind and jumped in without thinking. Now his cheek was probably broken and he was getting another lecture from Ellie about some shit that he probably wouldn't remember.

He slammed back into his brother with a yelp when the searing pain from industrial strength disinfectant being rubbed into his face hit home. He felt Ellie grab his wrist and yank him back to her with a 'would ya behave'. Cracking open his good eye he saw that she was right up in his space rubbing bits of dirt out of the jagged slice on his face. When she'd stopped with the disinfectant he sort of passed out, lulled by the attention and the banter between her and his brother.

Merle watched as she pulled a surgical needle out of the kit and threaded it with dissolving sutures. They would hold so long as Daryl didn't do anything stupid and it meant if he didn't come back to get them out they would just disappear.

"So how'd that fancy ass ball thing go?"

"Ah Christ Merle, it was fuckin' awful, had ta stand around and listen ta these boring assholes droning on about funding cuts and why we can't have more gurneys even though we need 'em and how we all have to 'make do' and Christ it was unbearable."

"I still say ya shoulda taken me as ya date."

"Hah yeah, what was I s'posed ta say? 'Oh hello director, yes I met this fine specimen of Southern gentility when I was pickin' buckshot outta his ass after some gal's old man caught him with his trousers down. Once he stopped running around high outta his tits and bleeding all over the damn waiting room floor, well mister, it was love at first sight.' That woulda gon' down well."

Merle chuckled to himself, she'd really saved his ass, literally. "Hell I can still remember the way ya bent mah ear 'bout that. I'da hit ya but I thought there were three o' ya and ya mighta ganged up on me."

Ellie finished off the last stitch and affixed a soft dressing over the cut before shaking Daryl awake and moving on to disinfect Merle's knuckles. Daryl propped his head onto his hand and jiggled her elbow, demanding some painkillers saying as she had the box open. Merle could barely feel he had hands so the burning sensation was really more of a pleasant warmth. Finishing that up and telling Daryl that with that concussion he wasn't getting shit and if he had anything to drink she would beat his ass worse than this, she pulled off her gloves and packed her stuff up. She helped Merle half carry Daryl to his seat and told them if he started throwing up or anything they were to come back to the hospital on the double.

"Now Merle, ya ain't gon' listen to me but are ya sure you don't want a taxi?"

"Hell bitch, ya right, I ain't gon' listen!"

"Jus' don't kill anyone ya hear?"

"Sure thang, missy."

Daryl swayed over to wave in a way that showed his brain was all messed up, almost hitting Merle in the face.

"Jesus Daryl, ya stupid fuck sit back down. 'Ppreciate the help missy!"

"Ah hell, someone's gotta take care o' ya boys, may as well be me. Be careful now."

Daryl smiled a genuine little smile at her but Merle just nodded before turning the stereo right up and blasting out of the carpark.

Ellie rolled her eyes, those boys were gawddamn ridiculous.

XXXXX

The next afternoon Johnny tapped his pen against the chart in front of him and chewed the inside of his cheek. This was the second case of a weird bite wound he'd had to treat today and it gave him a bad feeling. He'd spotted Timothy being chatted up by one of the more aggressively flirty receptionists earlier and idly wondered if he should go rescue him. Boy didn't need to be scarred before the end of his first week.

Ellie wandered over, collecting her caseload for the shift as she passed the desk. They made some idle chit-chat about their dad's birthday presents for the next week before Johnny mentioned his worried feelings about the bites.

"Gawd I hope it ain't another tainted batch. Those drugged up assholes were crazy."

"I dunno, only some of 'em got that hungry. The folks I was treating said the folks that bit 'em were totally off, homeless guys like, but had weird starin' eyes and didn't talk."

"Ya say ya got a bad feeling? How bad? Like the time ya knew Danny's team were gon' lose the superbowl and he was gon' lose all that dough? Or worse than that?"

Johnny smirked to himself over his twin's loss of money. He shoulda known to always trust Johnny, his moods were usually spot on. Sobering he looked down the hall at what looked like another doctor being confused over the bite wounds that got so clotted and necrotic so quick. "Definitely worse than that, I just don't know how bad yet."

XXXXX

R/R


	2. Chapter 2

Again, I don't own anything or know anything about how hospitals or surgery works so if you happen to work in one just put all the mistakes down to artistic license. The reviewers have been awful sweet; I'm just hoping it doesn't start sucking. Less Dixons this time and more build up about the outbreak. Enjoy!

XXXXX

12 Days Before Total Contamination – Atlanta General Hospital

"Christ I don't know anythin' that makes a fever like this." Johnny chewed the end of his pen, a seriously bad habit he only resorted to when he was really stressed.

Dr Jenner clutched several charts to her chest, looking worriedly over her stylish glasses at the patient writhing in the bed burning up despite the medication and ice packs. She was an expert in infectious diseases, visiting from the nearby CDC after Johnny had requested she come take a look at several new patients. They all displayed relatively similar symptoms, a general flu-ish malaise followed by a scorching fever coupled with delirium and a little internal bleeding if the vomiting was anything to go by. The patient on the bed was the most advanced case, a homeless man – they nearly all were – who had been brought over by his healthy fellows.

At first it had been dismissed as just another epidemic travelling through the homeless population, or Ellie's suggestion of another tainted batch like the one that had kept them so busy a couple of years ago. But this was nothing like they'd ever seen before. And Johnny had noticed a common feature that scared the absolute shit out of him, they had all been bitten. This ward had been essentially quarantined but there were more and more cases coming through the doors as they spoke.

"What transfers through bites? The only thing I can really think of is rabies." Dr Jenner pushed her glasses up and looked at Dr Taylor. The hospital here was lucky to have someone who could spot something like this, too many institutions let things like this slip by until it was too late.

Johnny paled and crunched on the pen harder, a rabies outbreak in a developed country like America? It didn't bear thinking about. "They're gawddamn human bites, Dr Jenner; I know rabies makes animals go teeth-crazy but humans?"

"It's all I got Dr Taylor, your man is getting me some samples right? I'll take them back over to the CDC and see if we can't identify it. The main question I have is why these patients aren't trying to bite others?"

"I really do not know, but shit's gettin' mighty serious, I'd sure 'ppreciate if ya could work fast."

Dr Jenner smirked at the handsome doctor, "I'm the best Dr Taylor, we'll work this out."

Johnny smiled as much as he could manage and held the door out of the ward open for her. She collected the samples off one of the interns who simpered on realising Johnny was there before being called away to check another victim of this mysterious illness in.

"I remember the days when I used to go all moon-eyed over Dr Westwood..." Jenner let the phrase hang with a smirk on seeing the discomfort on Johnny's face.

"Ah shurrup Jenner, go work this out or I'll tell ya husband ya were mooning after me yaself."

She laughed and headed out the main doors waving, reasonably confident that she could fix this. After all no one had died of this yet ... that they knew of at least.

XXXXX

Much later in the day Johnny still wasn't off shift. There had been several call ins from other staff members saying they were sick and couldn't make it in. It made the bad feeling settle in his stomach even harder and he'd called his brother and father to tell them to be extra careful to avoid being bitten by anything at all costs. Then phoned his other brother way over on the other side of the country to do the same, although Vin had said his paramedic buddy hadn't seen any similar cases. He'd already collared Ellie as she was prepping for surgery earlier in the day and told her the same thing.

Now it was getting closer to midnight and there was barely enough staff to keep the place on an even keel and he was run ragged. Even the surgery staff had had to postpone any non-emergency operations to do general patient upkeep. He'd seen CJ, one of the finest technical surgeons in the hospital who had probably never been allowed outside the OR for ten years, attaching drips and emptying bedpans and hoped against hope that things got back to normal soon. CJ didn't seem bothered, telling him 'hell, the nurses work a hell of a lot harder than we do, ya gotta pitch in when ya can!" before being called away to fetch an obese man's inhaler. What were they going to do if there was a multi-car pileup or something that needed the skills CJ had, what was going to happen then? Ellie had been given the children's ward which showed they were really short-handed – she could cope with mothering new trainees and ridiculous rednecks but small people who couldn't be stand to be tough loved were pretty much beyond her. Timothy was clearly being shouted at by a combination of the patients and stressed out medical staff and looked as though he was either going to cry or tell them to shove their demands up their ass. Johnny hoped it was neither but made sure to give him a little pep talk in the corridor before making another round in an unfamiliar ward.

Thankfully after midnight things started to quiet down as most of the patients started sleeping and Johnny could barely think beyond a large coffee and maybe a lie down in the staff room. There'd been even more calls in from the nightshift and it didn't look like he was going to get to leave for a while. If the board of directors chose to make a visit tomorrow the hospital was going to be crucified. The regulations on how long staff were supposed to be on shift were so strict and so shot to hell right now. Reaching the staff room and pouring himself an obscenely large cup of coffee he took a seat in one of the armchairs. Across from him was George somehow managing to balance his giant frame on one of the tiny sofas while he caught a quick nap. Johnny wanted to nudge him to stop him snoring but didn't have either the heart to disturb him or the energy to move.

He evidently dozed off himself because when his pager going off made him jump and slosh lukewarm coffee over his hand. Muttering a few choice words under his breath he wiped himself clean and started heading up to the quarantined ward, followed by George who had evidently been paged at the same time. Entering they found Timothy, Ellie and Dr Simmons standing around the most advanced case of whatever this epidemic was.

Dr Simmons looked over at the two of them his voice barely above a whisper, "Something's up Johnny, look at him."

The man had stopped sweating, shivering and shouting about his visions of hell and was now staring at the ceiling completely silently. Johnny reached around his sister to check the man's pulse finding it incredibly weak and irregular. What was worse was that the man didn't even react, just kept staring and dragging in ragged breaths. The four doctors looked at each other worriedly but they'd already done everything they could.

Suddenly all the lights began to flicker and the monitors restarted themselves. Johnny realised he was more jumpy than he thought if a power short had made him grab onto his sister and pull her away from the bed. Ellie was stopped from telling him off when Timothy pointed at the monitor. It was back on but the man's life lines were completely flat.

"What the fuck?"

Dr Simmons paled, "He was fine two minutes ago!"

"Christ!" Johnny rushed out to check on the other patients in the ward, praying that he wouldn't find any of the others in this state. Ellie and George ran out down to the ICU to check on the life support machines that might have been affected by the power short.

Timothy and Dr Simmons just looked at each other awkwardly, both unsure of what was happening and if there was anything that could be done. Simmons sighed and began leaving the room as well when Timothy grabbed his arm.

"Look!"

The man's fingers had begun to twitch a little and his mouth had started opening and closing. Timothy and Simmons shared an excited and relieved glance while Simmons hollered down the corridor for Johnny.

"What in the hell's the matter?" Johnny stopped dead on seeing his patient wake a little and begin moving around. He laughed aloud and clapped the other two men on the back; something they'd done had worked!

"Damn thing must be broke, I swear iffen we don't get new equipment soon ..." He trailed off while giving the monitor a shake to see if that would kickstart it.

Timothy sagged against the wall looking extremely relieved; this whole situation was way too weird. Johnny gave him a smile and told him to keep an eye on the patient while he left to help the others. Simmons nodded to him on the way out before closing the door. The trainee thought he could maybe catch a quick nap, the patient wasn't going anywhere, as his eyes started to droop.

XXXXX

* Taylor, Jenkins and Hopkins to theatre 3, emergency! *

Ellie and George cursed at having to leave the ICU before breaking into a run in the corridor to get to surgery. A man slouched out of one of the wards and raised his arms towards them as they approached.

"Sorry sir, we're needed in surgery!" George barely looked at the hunched figure as they ran past and missed the bloodstains over the front of his hospital gown.

Bursting into the soaping room they found CJ already prepping and he informed them that some businessman had been attacked not far from the hospital and was in a real bad way.

"His wife, well, I say wife but when ya see her, ya'll know why I'm sceptical, were out at that posh Italian place near the Starbucks Johnny always goes ta and when they came out they got jumped by some crazies. There's somethin' mighty fucked up going on guys, the 'wife' says they were trying ta eat him."

George and Ellie stopped dead and looked at each other, "Johnny said all them folks gettin' sick was 'cos they'd been bit."

CJ shook his head, "Didn't Johnny say he had a bad feelin' a coupla days ago? That boy's gotta be psychic he's always right on the gawddamn money."

When they were suited up they found that their information was spot on, the businessman was in a real bad way. Bad enough that it turned even their stomachs despite years of trauma surgery.

"Christ, where do we start?"

After a beat the three leapt into action. George affixed the facemask that would keep him anaesthetised while Ellie and CJ began cutting off the ragged remains of his clothes to get as his chest and stomach, clearly the area the crazies had focussed on. The man's heart rate was far too fast but there wasn't time to worry about that when his guts had to be sewn back together and then put back in. They worked steadily for around five minutes; the fact there was no talking a testament to how well they knew and worked together.

Suddenly the man's breathing gave out and he began crashing.

"Jesus! Get on it George!"

"He's going too fast!"

"We're losing him, gawddamnit!"

In these situations CJ worked on muscle memory giving him time to think that it was ironic that the new kid wasn't here to see a surgery that could've qualified for one of the medical dramas he liked so much. Despite their best efforts the man was slipping away. CJ couldn't say he was surprised, not only was the man so badly injured it would've been an absolute miracle if he had pulled through he was being attended to be three fractious doctors who had all been awake for nearly twenty four hours. The odds were just against him. They finally stepped back and away from him after ten minutes of attempting to revive him.

"Fuck!" Ellie was in a viciously bad mood.

Seemed the odds were against them too as the power went out for the second time. The room was plunged into total darkness for a few seconds, not long enough for the backup generators to come on but long enough to disrupt everything.

"What in the hell is goin' on this place tonight?"

"We need ta get outside George, feels like some shit's goin' down."

Finally the lights flickered back on and the readout monitor still showed the man on the table was very much dead. Sighing Ellie signalled to the nurse at the window that they were done and reached over to switch off the monitor to stop the flat-lining noise.

She didn't move fast enough to avoid the dead man grabbing her arm as it passed over him. She shrieked and leapt away but the man's grip was too strong and he rolled off the table desperately snapping at her.

"Jesus CHRIST!" CJ ran over to pull the guy off but the man flailed and flung him back into the operating table hard enough to knock the wind out of him for a second. George was around on the other side and slammed the panic button sending a blaring noise through the theatre and to the rest of the hospital.

Ellie might not have had her stomach and chest all open but the guy was a hell of a lot bigger than her and practically fell on her as she stumbled backwards. His eyes were open and completely clouded with no expression whatsoever but he was making feral snarling noises and scrabbling at her while she tried to fight him off. CJ had shaken the pain off and was back to desperately trying to rescue her but every time he pulled at the guy he was shaken off. Ellie yelped as the man's hand grabbed her shoulder with crushing force as he tried to get at her neck. Throwing out her arm she tried to push him away but without the leverage it wasn't making an impact. She scrunched her eyes closed and turned her face away when suddenly there was a dull metallic thud and the man's grip relaxed.

Opening her eyes she saw George standing over them, breathing heavily, with one of the large oxygen tanks clutched in his massive hands. The end was covered in black, clotted blood and the back of the dead guy's head was complete caved in.

The door to the ward burst open and Johnny and two nurses ran in, stopping dead when they saw the scene before them. CJ was bleeding from a cut on the back of his head. Ellie was scrabbling out from under a patient absolutely covered in blood and terrified like Johnny had never seen her. George was frozen in position, obviously unable to really process what he'd just done.

The tension in the room was palpable and it was Ellie who broke the silence by sobbing a little, more from shock and terror than anything else.

"Fuck. Me." CJ whistled through his teeth and obligingly knelt down to let one of the nurses check out the back of his head.

George was shaking, he was nothing if not a gentle giant, and everyone could see the horror on his face.

His eyes were locked with Ellie who had managed to control herself a little and give him a wan smile. "Thank ya George, God, thank ya so much." Her voice broke a little at the end and she dropped her face into her hands to try and stop crying.

George let out a shaky breath and slowly lowered the tank to rest on the floor. His legs then seemed to give as he sank slowly down after it. Johnny was kneeling with his hands on his baby sister's shoulders and telling her it was safe now, he was here and it would all be ok in a frantic whisper. The other nurse thoughtfully went to fetch some clean scrubs for the surgeons while they attempted to pull themselves together and figure out what the hell had happened.

Johnny listened intently as they pieced together the story. The guy had been dead no doubt about it. And who the hell could move around like that with their guts hanging out? The bad feeling he'd had previously turned into a lead weight in his guts. He'd have to tell Dr Jenner he'd figured out why the sick patients weren't trying to bite each other. It seemed to only happen once they'd died.

"Are ya fuckin' kiddin' me?" CJ gave him a look of angry disbelief when Johnny told them this theory.

"Well, ya said that guy was dead didn't ya?"

"He didn't try and grab us or nothin' when he was still alive..." Ellie's voice was stronger now, she didn't want to think about how frightened she'd been. She hated how weak she'd been, how she couldn't fight him off. How could she ever repay George for killing someone to save her life?

"So what ya tellin' me here? Folks get bit, they die, they come back ta life ta bite more folks? It can't be, it just can't." CJ trailed off, the pieces fit but damn, nothing could bring people back to life, surely?

"Christ I hope I'm wrong CJ, there's gotta be some more realistic explanation!"

CJ chewed his lip and looked worriedly over at George who hadn't moved or said a word the whole time they'd been speaking. His hands were shaking a little and his gaze was trapped on a spot on the floor. "Hey man, ya did the right thing, that fucker was gon' hurt Ellie. Besides," he said after a pause, "he was dead anyway."

George looked up at last and nodded at Ellie who reached over and grabbed his hand, giving him the most grateful look he'd ever seen. "Thank ya George, I ... He'd a killed me, ya know?"

Johnny closed his eyes at what he was going to say, and hoped and prayed he'd get the answer he was looking for. "Ellie, he didn't ... he didn't bite ya did he?"

Ellie looked horrified for a minute, processing the implications if Johnny's theory was right. She was able to shake her head though. Pointing to the corpse, CJ rolled it over with his foot, the plastic anaesthetic mask was still firmly in place.

George looked to the doors of the theatre, "Well what in the hell do we do now?"

XXXXX

Merle licked the barbeque sauce from his fingers and gestured to Daryl that he could have the last piece of fried chicken from the bucket. His knuckles felt a hell of a lot better now and he was thinking about heading back to that dive bar and teaching those motherfuckers more of a lesson, especially for messing with Daryl.

Daryl's face looked a lot better; it was much less swollen although the bruising had started to go all yellow and gross. The stitches in his cheek were holding together and he'd remembered Ellie's advice about putting on some of the disinfectant cream she'd given them last time. Well, Merle had remembered, he'd been too concussed.

Stretching, Merle switched on the small tv in the corner of their trailer only to find that the only programme being broadcast was an emergency announcement. He and Daryl crowded closer to hear the woman state that there was an epidemic sweeping the state and folks had to be on guard.

"'There have been many reports of seemingly random attacks?' Fuckin' hell, Merle, eatin' folks?"

Merle strode over to the window and pulled up the blinds to look out over the trailer park. The park had been unusually quiet today, usually the brat kids were running around shouting and it almost never got to this time afore you heard Carter and his wife having one of their screaming matches. Looking back at his little brother, he began going through a checklist of their shit.

"Start packin' up shit Daryl. I don' wan' be eaten by some crazy fuckers. We'll move out in the mornin'."

Daryl nodded and moved to do what his brother said. Merle had been in the army for years and knew his stuff, even if he was junked out his head most of the time. Pulling out some canned food and their hunting tents he watched as Merle locked all the doors and windows. A thought of Ellie crossed his mind, her brothers were some fancy ass businessman and a poufy doctor, they sure as hell weren't no Merle.

XXXXX

R/R


	3. Chapter 3

Alrighty, things are all going to hell, but our Dixon boys are on top of things! Things are coming together for the start of the show too. Hope you enjoy!

**Pin-Chan2** – I'm really glad you like the characters, I was a bit leery of them at first 'cos I don't want to turn them into Mary-Sues or whatever. I really like the build up stuff and I thought it would make Ellie and that's introduction to the actual story more plausible if there was stuff going on to tie them in before. Thanks for all the loveliness!

**PlaneJane21** – I'm glad you think it's realistic, that's really what I'm trying to go for! I do love the Dixons so I'm trying my best to do them justice! I hope the rest of the story does it for you too!

**Synethesiac** – A comment like 'genius' made my day, I just hope I can keep it from sucking the further on we go!

**Blondie911** – It is nice to see the Dixons get along with someone, they're just misunderstood (while still being pains in the ass) that's all!

XXXXX

11 Days Before Total Contamination

Daryl didn't manage more than a few hours of sleep during the night. He was always a relatively light sleeper, brought on by too many nights avoiding his drunker than hell step-father, but the thought of being eaten by some crazy bastards made him jerk awake at every noise outside. It wasn't helped by the fact Merle was up and down several times to check the outside. Daryl could tell his brother was really worried as he barely touched the new stash he'd got the previous day. Normally an amount like that wouldn't last more than a few hours but Merle obviously thought this situation needed him to have a clear head. Seeing as how he spent around eighty percent of life junked out this meant times were awful serious.

They'd packed up all the stuff Merle reckoned they'd need for what might be an extended trip into the wilderness. The tv had told everyone to stay in their homes unless strictly necessary but Merle felt it would be safer away from people altogether. Being good ol' Southern boys that had often gone hungry in the past they both knew how to live off the land. This skill was gonna be a lifesaver as their dried food consisted of nothing but jerky and some ancient tins of soup. Merle had pulled out the handgun he kept under his bed and several boxes of bullets, stashing the gun in the back of his waistband and the bullets in his carryall. Daryl had never actually seen him use it, Merle preferred to settle his arguments with his fists. In fact he hadn't even seen it in a few years; the last time was when Merle used it to threaten their previous neighbours after they'd been trying to beat on him. He wasn't sure what Merle had done when he was in the army, saying as his brother would rather pull teeth than talk about it, but the fact he never used a weapon must say something about it.

Their light blue pickup was near perfect for escaping the city. It wasn't totally rugged but Daryl worked on it in his spare time to make it faster and more powerful. He idly wondered if he should phone the garage and say he was leaving town in case they called him in to work. But seeing as how people seemed to be eating people he reckoned they could cope without him. Merle seemed on edge but also to be enjoying himself planning how best to survive. He'd even dug a map out and while Daryl was chucking stuff onto the flatbed of the truck he was marking out routes they could take and likely places to camp. Watching his brother assume total command of the situation made him think of Ellie again, she always got a look like that whenever they turned up to her needing patched up.

"What ya day-dreaming 'bout huh? We gotta get outta here." Merle slapped his little brother upside the head with the map on his way out to the pick-up. Daryl shook his head and made sure he'd grabbed everything while Merle strapped his pride and joy of a bike down in the back of the truck.

Merle had said the trailer park was too quiet and Daryl agreed. Sure, he got on better with the little brat kids than his brother, but they were still noisome little shits. And him and Merle were always going over to stop Carter beating on June sometime during the day. Hell, even old man Beau wasn't liquored up and singing about how the south would rise again. Easing the pick-up out of their patch the two of them looked out of their sides but couldn't see any movement in the other trailers.

"Folks already left? Or jus' lyin' low?" Daryl would be sad to see anything happen to Bernice, three trailers up from them. They'd had a fling going for a while but she'd gone back to her jerk-ass husband when he'd got out of prison around a year ago. She wasn't the best looking gal in the world but she was fun enough and didn't get scared off by his occasionally bad attitude which was all he really asked for in a woman.

"What in the fuck's goin' on Daryl, I ain't never seen this place so fuckin' dead." Merle drummed his hands on the steering wheel some more, the cold-turkey tremors starting to show.

Daryl turned to look over his shoulder at his brother and nearly missed the reason why the park was so quiet. "Holy FUCK!"

The windows of the McKee trailer were covered in dried blood that was obviously on the inside. Hurriedly looking back at his brother Daryl instinctively reached for the comforting weight of the crossbow lying across his lap. He'd saved up for years to get a proper hunting crossbow that wasn't one of Merle's cast offs and even just touching its familiar handle calmed his nerves. Merle looked conflicted for a moment before stepping on the gas again and driving them towards the exit. They could see the same sights all the way up to the road. Daryl never really got on with the little 'community' here but for them all to be gone hit him low in the guts. Merle had hated most of them fuckers and was glad to see the back of them. He'd never been so glad he'd chosen the furthest away trailer in the whole lot, separated by a whole lotta distance and a chain link fence. He'd never thought to get away from crazy assholes, just the regular kind. Whatever the hell was going on, it was big.

Daryl fidgeted in his seat as they pulled out of the park and onto the highway, the route into Atlanta was dead but there were loads of cars trying to get out the other way. Looking at the lines marked on the map sitting on Merle's lap they didn't seem to be heading the right way.

Seeing his brother's questioning look Merle frowned and looked out of the window refusing to meet his eyes, "We're goin' ta the hospital."

His tone left no room for questions so Daryl subsided into his chair, secretly relieved.

XXXXX

Johnny frantically dug through the janitor's office down the hall from the cafeteria. He was trying to find something, anything that they could use to block off the door. He could hear his colleagues shouting at him to hurry the hell up and tried to stop his hands shaking long enough to be of any use. They'd ran out of space in the quarantined ward and had been moving the infected down into the largest room they had through the night. There had obviously been several bitten at around the same time as it seemed like hundreds had reanimated and were now trying to break through the main double doors. They'd barely gotten out of there before the dead were suddenly all over them.

George, Ellie and Dr Simmons were holding the doors shut with various chairs, a stepladder and themselves. CJ had gone home earlier in the morning to check on his housebound mother and hadn't yet checked back in. Timothy had disappeared somewhere, he hadn't been in what they were describing as 'patient zero's' room when they'd all had the horrible thought that they'd left him in there. However the patient had been strapped down during the course of his fever and never released so it was anyone's guess where the young intern had got to. Johnny wouldn't blame him if he'd bolted, nearly all the staff and able bodied patients had, there was only a few hardy souls trying to stem the tide.

A sudden noise behind him made him jump up and press his back against the shelves. He'd already seen what these things could do to you if they got a real good hold on you. Swallowing hard he swore the whole damn hospital could hear his heartbeat as he grasped for the first thing within reach. The cafeteria had been having new pipes laid with the new kitchen extension and some off cuts were still lying around. Grabbing a decent sized and heavy one he waited, his hearing drowned out the noise from out with the room and left only the slow shuffling noise approaching him. All he could focus on as a hunched figure began advancing on him was that he wished the janitors replaced the lights in their store rooms a little more often.

As if hearing this thought aloud the old man straightened up suddenly and with a devilish moan began reaching for him at a slightly faster pace. The man's dead eyes were locked on him and Johnny muttered a soft prayer before stepping forward and swinging the pipe at the old man, hard enough to hear the frail ribs cracks under the blow. Johnny slammed back up against the shelves as the man tottered backwards. But he didn't fall, instead it seemed he barely registered the blow before coming for him anew. Johnny barely strangled a whimper at this and managed to steel himself to hit the man again, this time using his height to his advantage and crushing the man's skull. After a heartbeat the man crumpled to the ground leaving Johnny wide-eyed and panting, staring at the corpse.

Finally the yells of his colleagues broke him out of his trance and he grabbed a sturdy looking plank and a chain with a huge padlock before running out the door. His friends were barely holding the doors closed against the onslaught of bodies pressed up against the other side of it when he skidded to a halt in front of them. With one final push with George utilising all his bear-like strength they managed to hold the doors closed enough for Johnny to ram the plank through the handles before wrapping the chain around them and padlocking it tight. Slumping into sitting cross-legged he surveyed the drawn faces around him.

"Jesus Johnny, you alright?"

He looked down at the black blood splatter on his white coat with a vaguely dazed expression before waving away their concerns. "It's the head, ya gotta go for the head."

"Whaddya mean, the head?"

"Only thing that stops 'em. Only thing." Johnny focussed on the floor, resting his shaking hands on his lap.

Ellie took a minute to rest her hand on his, conveying that whatever he'd had to do it was the right thing, before standing up ready to deal with whatever was coming their way next. One of the auxiliary nurses appeared around the corner clearly out of breath.

"The army's coming! They say they're gonna have evac choppers and ground troops and everythin'!"

The doctors shared as close to an excited look as they could, reinforcements were the one thing they were sorely in need of.

"When they say they'd be here?"

"Were just on the radio, a few hours tops!" She managed a smile before rushing away to tell the other pockets of resistance within the hospital.

George shuddered at the continual banging on the cafeteria doors before having a thought.

"Where ya goin'?"

"Didn't we have spray cans somewhere in this joint?" George disappeared into the same janitor's storeroom for a minute before emerging with some black spray-paint confiscated off one of the teenaged patients.

Shooing the rest away from the doors he began spraying, they would be leaving here soon hopefully and he didn't want anyone else to have to find out what was behind the door.

The four of them stared at the words once he was done.

"I need some fresh air." Ellie picked up the fire-axe she'd collected and headed out the main doors to sit on the step. The others split up with assurances to be careful to see if they too could catch a rest.

XXXXX

The city was eerily quiet as Merle directed the truck into the hospital grounds. They'd seen a few folks who looked like they had whatever it was that was causing this eating people thing and even Merle was starting to get a little freaked out. They pulled up right in front of the steps and with the most excellent timing they'd seen in a while Ellie wandered out the door a few seconds later. Merle leaned out the window and waved rather than honking the horn, didn't want to attract any of the wrong kind of attention. Seeing them she came over, both men floored to see her covered in black blood and carrying a fire-axe.

"Fuckin' hell missy, ya alright?"

Daryl crowded up to his brother in the cab of the truck. Ellie looked tired, huge dark circles under her eyes, but more unsettling than that she looked scared as all hell. Ellie never looked scared: concerned yeah, angry a hell of a lot, but never scared.

"I'm fine boys, ya'll ok? Ya ain't been bit have ya?"

They suddenly showed their brotherly similarity in the way they both wrinkled their noses at this question. Ellie couldn't help but smile a little fondly at them.

"Naw, we ain't bit, what in the hell is goin' on?"

"I dunno boys, but ya can't get bit, ya hear me? Ya just can't. Do whatever ya gotta do."

"What's the big deal wit' gettin' bit? Ain't these folks just crazy?"

She rubbed her eyes, "Hell boys, ya wouldn't believe me, I'm hopin' I don't have ta believe myself."

Merle stopped looking around to lean in close to her, "What's goin' on missy, ya'll best tell me now."

"Them folks ain't crazy Merle, they dead."

Daryl's face twisted up as he tried to process this, "Then what's the big deal?"

"Look, ya get bit, ya die, then somehow ya come back to life and the dead folks are only interested in eatin' live folks. I know how fuckin' stupid it sounds but it's true," she looked away, "trust me."

The two men looked at each other. "That's fucked up."

"Johnny says ya gotta go for the head. Ain't nothing else that'll take 'em down."

Merle nodded, remembering his sharpshooting training. Daryl looked a bit sick.

"Now, apparently the army's heading over here soon, they gon' come clean up this mess. Ya boys get outta here, there's too many sick folks around here, it's dangerous."

Merle gestured round to Daryl's side of the truck. "Well then get in missy."

Ellie smiled a tight smile. "I appreciate it boys, and lawd knows I'd be safer with ya but I can't leave. There's too many folks here that need me."

"Fuck 'em." Merle gave her a totally reasoned look, there was no doubt that's what he would do.

Her shoulders slumped and Daryl was totally taken aback by how vulnerable she looked, Ellie had never been vulnerable before.

"Boys I'm serious, it's me and Johnny and few other folks holdin' this place together. I want ya to get outta here, and stay safe, I'll meet up with ya iffen I can." Daryl's gut twisted, if, not when.

Merle looked torn for a minute before nodding. "Ya take care of yaself missy."

Ellie stepped up on the footplate on his door and grabbed his hand and Daryl's. "I'm serious, iffen ya don't take care o' yaselves I'll be mighty upset."

Both men nodded, the implication of care wrapped in a threat was her trademark for dealing with them. She squeezed their hands before stepping down. "Don't get bit. Go for the head. Please, look after yaselves."

Both men nodded again, watching her retreat back into the hospital carrying the large axe awkwardly. At the door she waved and they both raised a hand to her before Merle gunned the truck and drove them out of the hospital grounds.

They'd been heading out of town for about half an hour, with Merle drumming the wheel and Daryl chewing his fingernails the whole way when they came upon a parked RV. As they slowed an old man waved to them, with two blonde women behind him. They looked like out of towners and the women instantly put Daryl's back up by giving them a judgemental once over.

Those faces didn't last long when Daryl suddenly raised his crossbow sending an arrow singing into the head of a dead guy that had been sneaking up behind them.

As he got out to retrieve his arrow and shrug off their mumbled thanks the old man reached out to shake his hand, "Morning son, I'm Dale and these lovely ladies are Amy and Andrea..."

XXXXX

After managing another round of the hospital and disposing off the odd few walking dead, a term Dr Simmons had coined, the four of them had holed up in the staff room as it had some food and the comfiest seats. Things could be manageable until the army got here surely. Most of the infected were trapped in cafeteria and the city outside didn't look much different to most early mornings.

Johnny and Dr Simmons had taken the couch while George took the recliner and Ellie settled on the floor by her brother's knees. Cups of coffee were passed around but there was no talking. A combined state of shock and tiredness meant they didn't have the energy. After some of the things they'd done through the night, nobody much wanted to talk to each other either.

The door handle turning put everyone on guard but it was just Timothy who appeared, causing them all to sigh in relief and settle back down. This feeling didn't last long when they saw he was showing the first signs of the fever, he was glassy eyed and panting hard.

"Ah Jesus, Timothy, did they...?"

He nodded, his eyes tearing up. The first old man had got him. He'd been secured to the bed but Timothy hadn't known what he was capable of when he'd leaned over to try and figure out what he was trying to say.

"I...I'm gon' die aren't I?" His worst fears were confirmed when the other four doctors looked away, unable to meet his eyes out of pity and shame.

"I'm so sorry Timothy, I didn't know, I jus' didn't know."

The boy, for that's all he was really, collapsed to his knees. Ellie reached over and gathered him up, allowing him to cry into her lap as he lay on the floor.

Over his sobs the four looked at each other, unable to bring themselves think about what they had to do.

XXXXX

R/R


	4. Chapter 4

I was hoping to get to the army scene in this one, but it sort of has a mind of its own! Hope you enjoy!

**PinChan2** – I'm super pumped you're enjoying it, it's been a little brainchild of mine for a while and it's nice to see that it translates outside my head. I'm trying so hard to stop her being a mary-sue, you must tell me if she starts veering that way so I can grab her before she gets totally gross. The Dixons have lots of layers (ok most of them are 'ornery bastard') and it's hard to keep them all straight. Very much looking forward to your story!

**PlaneJane21** – I'm trying to link it into the plot of the show as hard as I can so it's all grounded for when the OCs do start interfering with the plot. Although they won't too much at all, hopefully. I like to think that while Merle can be a right bastard he sticks by the people who stick by him. A bit more on the bringing together, so I hope you like it!

**Synthesiac** – I'm so glad you think it's genuine, I was so worried that it was just going to be boring inserts that no one cares about. Hoping to get to that nasty hospital situation in the next chapter, and then they really come into the plot proper. Hope this is ok!

XXXXX

11 Days Before Total Contamination

Ellie hadn't realised she'd fallen asleep but she jerked awake when her head slid off the couch she was leaning against. George was also asleep, lying curled up on the chair across from her. Dr Simmons and Johnny were standing at the window and talking quietly. Her brother looked shattered. Johnny already had trouble sleeping, mostly due to a mixture of a high pressure job and a borderline caffeine addiction. Like most doctors he carried around a heavy burden of responsibility and it affected him more than most. Their father had always said that Johnny was the most sensitive of the four of them and he certainly wasn't cut out for beating people to death, even if they were already dead. She didn't really know Dr Simmons that well despite the fact they often cared for the same patients. He was a slim, older man with fair hair that was balding in the middle. His disposition was rather nervous and he constantly fiddled with his glasses that clicked together in the middle for when he needed to read anything. However he was obviously more sturdy than he appeared, not only had he not run away like so many of the staff but he had also thrown himself into harm's way many times to protect them and their patients.

Checking the fob still attached to her uniform despite nearly losing it to a walker's grasping hands she found out she'd been out for nearly three hours. Standing up and rubbing her aching legs she accepted a coffee from Dr Simmons with a tight smile.

"I spoke ta pa and Danny afore." Johnny whispered, both to avoid waking George and to avoid drawing any more walkers to their room. They'd figured out that they were drawn to noise which explained why loads seemed to appear at once, they all followed the same noises.

"They ok?" Ellie pulled her hair back into a high knot, she already needed a shower but wasn't keen on braving the lower floors just yet.

"Yeah, hard as hell ta convince them not ta come here. Pa wasn't happy leaving us."

"They gon' ta Uncle Monty's?"

"Yeah, said they was leaving sometime today. Said we had ta head over soon as we can."

"That your crazy uncle?"

Johnny and Ellie smirked a little at Simmons' question. "Hell yeah, he died a couple a years back but his place should still be safe. They gon' hole up there 'til the army figures this shit out."

"Thought Janie said they'd only be a few hours, where in the hell are they?"

The three of them turned to scan the city again from the large window. While earlier they explained away how quiet the city was because it was the early morning and the fact that people were being told to stay in their homes it was becoming obvious something was really wrong in Atlanta. The dead silence over the city was only broken by the occasional scream, roaring engine or gunshot. There even seemed to be several buildings on fire if the plumes of smoke were anything to go by. There was still no sign of the army anywhere; there were no ground troops nor had there been any reconnaissance flyovers.

The three of them ducked below the window when they heard an explosion in the distance. Poking their heads over the sill a building even closer to the hospital was ablaze, plumes of thick black smoke billowing into the sky. This was a big city, normally an explosion would have drawn a huge chattering crowd and the sirens from the fire brigade and their own ambulances would have started within seconds. The silence continued.

The noise had woken George who yawned wide enough for his jaw to crack before coming over to join them. Another discussion about the army started, all four reassuring themselves as much as each other that the soldiers would sort everything out. Ellie and Johnny had a decent amount of faith; two of their good friends from high school had gone straight into the army. Another lull in conversation fell over the group; the conversation strained by not wanting to talk about anything that was going on. They turned back to scanning the city, hoping that at any moment they would see tanks or something rolling towards the hospital, ready to deal with everything and take the pressure off them. Suddenly Dr Simmons pointed down one of the streets to the left with a soft curse.

"Jesus Christ." The rest followed his outstretched finger to a figure shuffling randomly around a parked car blocking its path. This wouldn't have been any cause for interest except for the fact the figure was being completely consumed by flames. Pressed up to the glass with horrified expressions the doctors watched as the figure, impossible to tell if it was a man or a woman, slowly burned as it walked. It didn't even seem to notice it was being destroyed. Eventually after a few more sickening moments its legs gave way as the fire ate them away and it collapsed. The four peeled themselves away from the window and shared disbelieving looks before Johnny said they had better go check on their patients. Johnny and Dr Simmons were to take some floors, Ellie and George others. Nobody was to go anywhere alone. Checking they had the correct keys, as they'd locked all the ward doors to protect their inhabitants, they shook hands, Johnny and Ellie hugging each other tight, before steeling themselves to leave the staffroom.

First job for George and Ellie was to check on Timothy. They'd strapped him down and sedated him heavily when the pain had started to kick in. He'd begged them to put him out of his misery and not to let him turn into one of those things but they hadn't been able to do it. Ellie knew she would have to do something; he was already suffering despite the medication. Resting her hand on his burning forehead she closed her eyes, hoping she would be able to summon the courage to up his morphine dosage to a fatal level.

George gripped the bottom of the young trainee's trolley so hard his elbows were shaking. "I never thought killin' a man could ever be a kindness."

"Iffen it was me I'd want ya ta do the same. Leastways this way he'll just slip away, no pain." With shaking hands she filled a syringe with a deadly dose from a small bottle and reached for his arm. With a whispered 'Lawd forgive me' she injected what would have been her young protégé.

Stepping back and into George's protective embrace she clung to her friend's huge frame as they watched the drugs take effect. Timothy's body came down from the arch it had worked itself into to try and get away from the pain and a last breath escaped his lips as he slipped away from them.

George brought a spade-like hand up to wipe the tears away as they poured down his face, dripping onto Ellie's head as she buried her face in his chest. They'd only known the kid a couple of days but to have a life cut so cruelly short was just heartbreaking. Taking a deep shuddering breath Ellie pulled away, discretely wiping her own tears, before setting her shoulders and stalking away to help those who she could actually do something for. Neither of them looked at the poor boy's body as they left.

XXXXX

Merle gritted his teeth as the old man launched into another one of his anecdotes. He was clearly mistaken if he though either brother, or either sister for that matter, gave even the remotest shit. The RV was about as useless a hunk a crap as Merle had ever seen and it was down to his handy brother to fix it afore they all got eaten standing around at the side of the road like fucking idiots. Daryl was too soft for his own good; these people would just slow them down. The older gal, the one who constantly looked as if she had shit under her nose for having to associate with folks like them, had a gun but he'd bet a whole lotta cash that the useless bitch couldn't hit a tree in a forest. The younger one kept asking Daryl what he was doing and how long he'd be. It was amusing Merle to keep a countdown in his head until his brother seriously lost his temper. Daryl was a good boy, raising a hand to a woman, a living one at least, was never an option no matter what, but he would sure as hell snap her head off if the dumb skank didn't shut her hole soon.

The old man finished with a laugh and with what Merle considered laudable self-control; he didn't immediately tell him to shove his stories up his ass and even managed a small twisting of his lips that counted as a smile. Daryl leapt away from the RV to announce it was fixed, striding away to their pick-up with the ramrod straight back that told Merle he was holding onto his temper by a thread. He had to hand it to the girl; she was irritating enough to get to his brother faster than he'd thought. Gesturing that they should get back into the van he climbed into the driver's side of the pick-up to find Daryl glaring a hole into the dashboard. Smirking he pulled back into the road and began leading their little convoy again.

"I hate them folks Merle." Daryl's voice was rough with repressed anger and his knuckles were white with how hard he was holding his crossbow. Folks like that, that thought they were better than him and his brother just 'cos they had money and had the chance to finish schoolin' and had never went hungry, got to him like nothing else. They'd be dead if it wasn't for him but they still treated him like he was beneath them.

Merle laughed. He didn't care what folks like that thought – they'd be the ones who couldn't cope with the shit that was going down. He hated the way it bothered Daryl though, his little brother was no fuck-up no matter what anyone said. Himself, maybe, but hell, he enjoyed his life. More than that stuck-up cow could say that's for sure.

Looking out the window he got a sinking feeling that they'd be stopping again. Another car and what looked like a pizza delivery scooter were pulled up at the side of the road while the occupants, a Mexican family and an Asian kid tried to work out where the hell they were. Daryl looked him with an angry and tight expression but the RV was already signalling they were pulling over. Merle sighed and with a look conveyed his thoughts that Daryl should've let that dead guy eat those idiots they joined them. Hell, more look outs the better, thought Merle. More mouths to feed, thought Daryl.

XXXXX

George paced in front of the main reception desk, the arranged meeting place for when they'd finished their sweep of the hospital. It had taken hours, slowed down by the fact there was hardly anyone fit to help them take care of the patients. They'd bumped into a few harried nurses and perhaps one or two other doctors and surgeons who were valiantly fighting to keep the patients in their sections alive and well but that was about it. It was just as well that most patients who were able had fled; giving them something close to a fighting chance of keeping the more critically ill patients cared for. Then there was the walking dead problem. It spread faster than almost any disease they could think of and they were constantly opening wards only to find dozens of blood covered ghouls on the other side of the doors. The worst part was that the hospital doors, although good sturdy fire doors, would only hold them inside for so long. He kept looking out of the front doors, praying that they arrived before the walkers started getting hungry enough to break out of their confinements.

Ellie was leaning over the desk trying to raise CJ on one of the few working phones left in the entire building. He'd been gone for hours and they hadn't heard anything. Although nothing was said they were all beginning to fear the worst. Ellie was getting seriously scared. CJ had been her mentor when she'd first started and she owed a huge amount of her skills to him. He'd always been there when things had been tough or she'd not been able to save people. He'd been the one to comfort her when she'd cried from frustration and tiredness during her first year. Hell he'd even been the one to recommend her for a place here at the hospital to work with him. He was one of her closest friends now and his silence despite the fact he'd sworn blind to get in contact regularly was making her sick with fear.

Movement from down one of the corridors instantly had them reaching for their weapons. Ellie hadn't had to use her axe much, usually they were able to simply outrun the walkers and lock the doors behind them. It was a bit too heavy for her but it did have the advantage of a sharp blade that helped offset her lack of height and strength. George had picked one up too although in his hands it was a hundred times more effective, the only trouble being that he hated the idea of using it and often froze up for a second when faced with danger. They both relaxed when they saw it was only Johnny and Simmons, who George had told her had the first name David, both looking as drained as they felt.

Again they had another discussion about the army, now more than late for when they said they'd arrive. David and George began pacing around the main doors, careful to stay out of sight of any ghouls on the outside. They'd all accepted that whatever it was, it was unlikely to have been confined to the hospital, but were still relatively hopefully that in non-communal buildings where everyone was in each other's pockets the spread may have been slower. Johnny slumped to the floor, grateful for the sit down and listened to Ellie's cursing as the call rang out for the hundredth time. He wasn't sure how much time had passed as his heavy eyes drooped but too soon for his liking he was shaken awake by what sounded like co-ordinated gunfire on the streets that was definitely getting closer. George and David got up from where they were sitting in front of the doors and pressed their noses to the glass to see what was happening. They wanted to go outside but the door opening mechanism had shorted out sometime through the night. None of them acknowledged that this meant one less exit in case things got really bad.

"It's the motherfucking army! Fucking finally!" George and David high-fived, David almost being knocked over by the force of it.

Ellie and Johnny shared an excited and incredibly relieved look; they were going to be ok. They'd hand the place over to the army medics and get to go join their dad and their brother. Ellie was almost too busy shaking David's hand to notice that CJ had picked up the phone.

"CJ! Where in the hell have ya been? I've been callin' ya for ages!"

"_I'm sorry Ellie..."_ Ellie strained to hear as his voice trailed away.

"Hell it's ok, ya heading back over here? The gawddamn army's on its way, they're in the streets right now!"

"_I won't be coming back Ellie."_

"Why not? Ya mamma not able to move?"

"_Mamma ain't the problem, well she was, but now I am."_

"You're the problem ... CJ don't tell me..."

"_I'm sorry, I didn't think my own mamma would ..." _he trailed off again, breathing harder than he should be, _"It's started Ellie, it hurts so bad."_

"Oh Gawd, CJ..."

"_Listen, I want ya ta know, I care about ya, and ya brother, and George a hell of a lot. I would'na traded working with you guys for anything."_

"CJ don't ..."

"_I ain't gon' hurt anyone else. I got something here to take care of me. Don't forget me, ya hear?"_

"CJ please!"

"_Ya promise?"_

"I won't forget you." Her voice cracked as the tears poured down her face.

"_Good. Chin up kid, ya gotta beat this ya hear? Ya stay safe, I'll be watching over ya, I swear it."_

"Chris don't!"

"_Goodbye guys."_

The other three couldn't hear what Ellie was hearing but they sure heard the gunshot that came through the phone speaker. For a few heartbeats there was nothing but Ellie's heaving breaths and George's quiet sniffing.

"FUCK!" The phone crashed into the wall hard enough to break and Ellie slid into a crouch, her arms covering her head as she sobbed. David and Johnny bowed their heads and tried to stop the tears for the sake of CJ's bravery in doing what he'd done. George slid down to sit next to Ellie and put a hand on hers.

A low groan alerted them to the presence of a walker that appeared around the corner and came for them. Ellie turned to look before snatching up her axe and swinging for its head. It went down but she slammed the axe into its head repeatedly, taking out her anger and sorrow on it until its head was a bloody mush and there were cut marks all over it and the floor. Breathing heavily she dropped the axe and wiped the sweat from her face. Turning around she saw that her brother was looking at her with pained understanding while the other two couldn't meet her eyes. They both looked a little scared and disappointed but Ellie couldn't bring herself to regret it, anything to stop anyone else getting hurt. Especially her friends and especially her brother.

Walking over to the glass she could see the army looked to be in control, they were dispatching figures in the distance that she assumed were the infected. They even had tanks and in the distance she could hear a chopper. They would be safe soon. Why did it have to be too late for CJ?

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R/R


	5. Chapter 5

Of course, I do not own the Walking Dead or there'd be more Merle. A little rundown on what happened inside the hospital when those jerks from the army showed up. The next chapter is really going to jump ahead and hopefully bring all players together, except for one notable exception. Also, I don't get the Shane hate. Yeah ok he acts like a douche a few times but he's under huge pressure and Lori was a total bitch about everything. Hope you all enjoy!

**Pin-Chan2** – I love all these characters and there's so many different personalities that they're fun to write! I'm gutted you didn't like the way the group was coming together. That's sorta how I always pictured it happening, people escaping on one road and that bringing them together. I thought it must have happened quick saying as how established they were as a group when the series starts. Still, I'm glad you liked the rest, hope this does it for you too!

**PlaneJane21** – I love those Dixon boys, ok they're a whole lotta asshole but a lot of it is people misunderstanding how they work and looking down on them (not looking at anyone in particular, Andrea, and pretty much everyone else actually...). Hope this lives up to your expectations!

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9 Days Before Total Contamination

Johnny cringed as more shots rang out and pressed himself further under the reception desk, praying with all his might that he wouldn't be found. This wasn't what he'd expected when the fucking army finally showed up.

After hearing of CJ's death they'd all gone to have a shower in preparation for leaving. It should have been one of the most satisfying things, to wash away two days worth of grime, but the thought of a ghoul catching them with their trousers down – literally – stripped all the enjoyment out of it. Ellie wasn't dealing with the loss of her mentor and friend very well. She alternated between crying quietly and pacing angrily around the staffroom where they'd retreated to. George, who had known CJ even longer, simply collapsed into the chair and stared vacantly out the window. David had barely known the man beyond a passing acquaintance and so joined Johnny as they watched for when the army would appear down the street.

Of course, they didn't come. The four doctors had listened from the hospital as the gunfire became less co-ordinated, less regular, then finally stopped altogether. They'd also watched through the night as one or two re-animated soldiers shuffled past the hospital. All hope that this plague hadn't spread much outside the hospital disappeared. In fact the situation out there, without many lockable doors, was probably even worse than in the hospital. Thankfully due to the malfunctioning front doors the only dead the doctors had to deal with were the ones already present inside. The only problem with that was that there was a hell of a lot of them, and having exhausted all feeding opportunities within their wards they were beginning to test the resilience of the doors holding them back. Trying to keep up with the patient demands was getting near on impossible, especially as they had come face to face with more than one ghoul wearing a stained white coat and scrubs. This dire situation had continued for another day and a half. Johnny hadn't felt this sick, tired and drained since his first days as a junior doctor and he knew he and the others couldn't keep it up for much longer. There was only so far you could manage on broken snatches of sleep and it would only be a matter of time before they became as big a danger to their patients as the walkers.

Thankfully, he'd thought earlier that morning, the co-ordinated firing was back and it was definitely getting closer. He'd been down the corridor when the first soldiers broke down the doors and they began streaming in. He'd almost rushed for them with open arms but hadn't quite reached them when they started gunning down anyone and anything in their path. The first casualty was David who had just appeared around the corridor, like himself drawn by the noise. They called to him and he threw his arms up and then they simply filled him full of bullets. When he'd fallen to the floor they leant over and put another bullet directly into his brain. Johnny was frozen with horror and anger. There was no way he'd even looked like a walker and they certainly hadn't bothered to check before murdering him in cold blood. Thankfully his survival instinct clicked in as they turned towards his direction and he fled into the nearest room. Thankfully free from any and all walkers or soldiers he had thrown himself under the bed and waited. The moments he spent under there were possibly the longest of his life. All he could think of was the casual way the soldiers had shot David right in the head. This was no rescue, maybe it would have been originally, but now it was a massacre. His heart in his throat he had cowered under the bed hoping against hope that his sister wasn't in harm's way. They'd survived so much already to be killed by the ones who should have been saving them would just be too much. When the soldiers kicked the door open he thought his lungs were going to explode with the energy it took not to breathe or make any kind of sound. After what seemed like an eternity they moved on and the relief took all the strength out of his limbs for a good few seconds before he was able to sneak to the door and make his way to the front desk. It was still the arranged meeting place and he only just got there before more soldiers started appearing and he was forced to crawl under it. He wished he could call for help but that would mean reaching for the phones and making noise that was bound to get him killed.

So he stayed, desperately trying to block out the gunfire and cursing himself for not doing anything to find his sister. He wished he was more like his twin, or even his other brother. Neither of them would be too scared to stick their heads out from behind a desk, even if they were getting shot at. He would just have to gather his courage and stop thinking about what had happened to David. Inching out, he peered around the side of the desk and couldn't see any living soldiers but there were two dead ones mixed in with the bodies from an infected ward that the doctors had sealed off. Taking a deep breath he slid out to find Ellie.

XXXXX

Shane rested his head against his best friend's chest, silently begging to hear a heartbeat. The power out had cut off the machine that seemed to be keeping him alive. There wasn't a fucking doctor in this place and the army weren't exactly helpful saying as how they were gunning down everything that moved. He kept his head there for a good few seconds, as long as he dared with the dead creeping closer to the room. Nothing. Only just restraining himself from slamming his fists into his buddy's chest he felt his throat tighten up and bit down on a sob as it threatened to escape. Rick sure as hell didn't deserve this and neither did his family. He looked up suddenly, oh shit, Lori and Carl! They'd be on their own now – he'd have to go get them and get them the hell away from all of this. Straightening up he rested his hand on his friend's body trying to get across all he wanted to say without words. Hearing the shuffling of the dead approaching he left the room and pulled a trolley to block those fuckers getting to Rick. The army had already been in and hadn't tried to kill him so it was just the dead that he had to protect his friend from now that he couldn't do anything else for him.

Pressing his back against the wall he made it to the staircase without incident, it was only a few floors down to one of the exits and then he could make his getaway. Moving slowly down the stairs with his gun drawn his heart and stomach fell through the floor when he heard soldiers on the way up. He had just enough time to edge through the doors on another level before they passed, leaving him on an unfamiliar level. The army had clearly been through here given the amounts of dead bodies, both walkers and not. With the power out the only light sources were the windows at the end of the corridors and any daylight escaping from the rooms. He had been hoping that the soldiers would continue up the stairs and allow him to slip back down past them but he could hear them standing around talking. After cursing them all to hell and back he began inching down the darkened corridor wishing he hadn't left his flashlight in the car. There was bound to be another staircase somewhere around here, he just had to get to it without being shot or eaten. His breathing was deafening in the heavy silence and he nearly yelped when he bumped into something. Whatever it was span around, far too fast for a walker. The two stared at each other for a long moment, Shane refusing to drop his gun until he was sure what he was looking at. Given that she wasn't trying to eat him or shoot him it was probably safe. She stepped back into a patch of light streaming through a doorway and he recognised her as the surgeon who'd saved Rick. The thought of his former partner hit him in the stomach and it was only the knowledge he had to get out there to protect Lori and Carl that kept him from breaking down. She nodded to him in understanding and pointed to a doorway not far from where they were, she had obviously been heading that way too, just slower than him.

They were relatively safe here as the army had probably dispatched most of the ghouls on this floor but there were a frightening amount of dead soldiers littering the floor. What the hell were these things that meant they could kill trained soldiers armed with some of the latest military technology? He'd already had to kill two of his fellow officers when they tried to attack him and another. Nothing they said slowed them down, nor did the shots in the chest. Something really fucked up was going on and he wanted to get out and away from the city as soon as possible.

They continued creeping down the corridor until the doctor, he thought she was called Tyler or Taylor or something, grabbed his arm and pulled them into a little enclave that hid the doors to the stairs. He was sure glad she was there; he would probably have missed it. It was almost pitch black with there being no windows in this stairwell. He was relying on her to guide them and put his hand on her shoulder to make sure he didn't lose contact with her. It could only have been minutes but it felt like days as they tried to get down the stairs silently without falling. A broken leg would mean that you may as well just ring the dinner bell. They both froze by one of the doorways as they heard voices. Through the glass of the doors they could see soldiers, thankfully facing away from them but milling around. Shane guided the surgeon to one of the sides and motioned for her to keep quiet. She gave him an unimpressed look which he had to smile wryly at. He only said it because it made him feel better, not because he thought she was going to make any noise. She smiled tightly in return, understanding under tense circumstances. For a tense few seconds they remained frozen and silent, hoping that the men would move on. They couldn't risk going down the stairs as the light from the window would illuminate them and make them easily spotted if one of the soldiers chose to look.

Even straining they couldn't hear what they were talking about, the gasmasks muffling their voices and the door blocking the noise from their earpieces. However they did hear them turn to shout at someone they couldn't see. Ellie's heart froze when she realised the voice pleading with them not to shoot belonged to George. He must've been caught or turned the corner and not realised who was standing there. He was at a serious disadvantage when it came to hiding in the hospital; his gigantic frame meant he couldn't hide under the beds or press himself into doorways. The last time she'd seen him he'd heard the soldiers approaching and shoved her under one of the low couches in the room they'd been in while he rushed off to find somewhere else to hole up.

She didn't even realise she was moving towards the doors until she had a hand clamped over her mouth and was lifted bodily back into the wall with an arm around her waist. She fought against him for a second as Shane held on, she knew as well as he did that going out there was suicide. Shane winced as she abruptly stopped struggling and went limp in his arms as they heard the gunfire that killed whoever it was that had been shouting. They were obviously someone the woman knew and Shane knew how hard it was to do nothing but he was certain whoever it was wouldn't have wanted her to sacrifice herself needlessly. Thankfully the noise of the gunfire and the distraction of the soldiers meant that their presence was still undetected. Shane gingerly removed his hand from her mouth and put it on her shoulder, turning her so he could check on her. Her teeth were gritted together and there were tears pouring down her face. Her eyes focussed on him and while he could read the anger in them, anger at him, it was overwhelmed by grief and a desperate hopelessness. She couldn't look more different from the confident, relaxed surgeon he'd seen just a few days ago. He was sure he didn't look the same as he had either, nobody did.

Shane hated seeing women cry. She was looking incredibly fragile, chewing on her lips and breathing shallowly to avoid making any noise. He pulled her into his chest and she pressed her face into his shoulder, her shoulders shaking. He allowed himself a few tears of his own; to relief the overwhelming guilt and despair he was feeling, but not too much. He couldn't afford a breakdown. They stayed that way for a few moments, long enough for the soldiers to move on. Suddenly there was a low moan from his left, coming up the stairs. The doctor obviously knew that sound meant danger as she jerked up and away from him, wiping her eyes and pressing herself back against the wall. Shane ignored the slightly wet patch on his shirt and aimed his gun into the darkness of the stairs. The light only stretched down to the first two steps and the noise had come from further down. There was no way to get an accurate shot and a quick glance at his new ally showed that she recognised the noise firing would be loud enough to bring the army back down on them. His gun was good for what it was but it wasn't large or heavy enough as a bludgeoning weapon. Looking around frantically there wasn't anything he could use, meaning they would have to brave leaving the stairwell and possibly right into the line of a firing squad.

The shuffling noise was getting closer and the excited moaning noise those things made when they spotted a meal was freaking both of them out. Shane stood directly in front of the doctor, shielding her and hoping that the longer they left it, the further away the army would be in case they needed to run for it. As they heard it scrabble around the first balcony and up the stairs towards them, Shane willing his hands not to shake as he levelled the gun at where he expected its head would be, there was a dull clunk and the sound of a body rolling down the stairs. Shane didn't dare breathe or move away from where his bulk was protecting the much smaller woman. A figure did come up the stairs but hissed 'for Gawd's sakes don't shoot!" and Ellie let out a sob of relief.

Johnny stepped into the light, praying that the cop would recognise he wasn't dead, infected or wanting to hurt them. His sister was leaning out from around him and he instantly felt immense gratitude to this man for helping her. When the man stepped into the light Shane recognised him as another doctor and almost certainly related to the one behind him. This was confirmed when she slid past him and into the arms of the man, voice cracking as she told him about someone called George. The man's voice was shaking as he said the same had happened to someone else called David. Shane felt suddenly uncomfortable and third-wheel like as they commiserated for a few moments. He looked up as he felt their eyes on him and the man reached out to shake his hand, thanking him with his eyes as the woman nodded in recognition. Shane managed a grim smile as he took the proffered hand and tried to portray the relief he felt that this man had dealt with the crazy before anything could happen.

Johnny gestured with his head that the way was clear and they were able to escape the hospital without any more problems. The army was clearly out in force so they had to be careful, edging around cars and ducking behind walls whenever they passed. Around the hospital it looked as though they had the situation under control but further out it was obvious the dead had taken control. The amount of dead bodies was nothing compared to the ones walking around in the distance, especially those in military fatigues. They reached where the cop had parked his jeep and hunkered down behind it.

"What in the hell are these things?" Shane kept his voice to a low whisper, constantly checking around to make sure they weren't spotted. The man he assumed was the woman's brother had picked up a fire-axe but she didn't have any weapons and neither of them had a gun.

"They're dead, ya get bit then ya get the fever, then ya die and then ya come back ta life to eat other folks. Basically." Johnny expected to be giving this run-down to a lot of folks.

Shane reacted with the usual disbelief and almost snickered before seeing that the two doctors were deadly serious. "What?"

"Hell, officer, we know. But ya gotta trust us, they ain't livin' no more and ya gotta get 'em in the head ta put 'em down. Nothin' else works."

Shane had noticed this, only shots to the head had felled his fellow officers. Dead? I mean sure that made some sorta sense but it was all too much to take in. He rubbed his tired eyes with his palms and stood up to go and get Lori and Carl.

"What ya two gon' do now?"

The two doctors looked at each other, in truth they hadn't thought much further ahead than escaping the hospital. "Uhh ... go grab a few supplies, get ta mah jeep then head out ta Uncle Monty's place an' hole up there. Yaself?"

Shane ran his hands through his hair, "Goin' ta get Grimes' wife an' kid then get the hell outta Dodge."

The other two nodded in sympathy but also in respect for a man willing to help those in need, there hadn't been nearly enough of that the past few days. Johnny reached out his hand to the officer. "Hope ya get 'em and stay safe. Maybe see ya around? Name's Johnny Taylor, and this' mah sister Ellie."

The officer shook his hand and then turned to shake Ellie's holding on for a bit longer as they shared a mutual understanding over what had transpired earlier. "Name's Shane, Shane Walsh. Keep safe."

"We'll be thinkin' 'bout ya, Shane. All the best."

They moved away from the jeep as it started up and waved to him as he pulled off. Ellie shared a long look with her brother. All their hard work at the hospital had been undone and they were being hunted by not only the walking dead but also the government that was supposed to protect them. There was nothing ahead but basic survival. Johnny smiled grimly, a smile that Ellie returned. They clasped hands for a moment before turning towards their destination of Johnny's flat and his rugged all-terrain jeep. Nodding to each other they started off, Ellie hoping that Merle and Daryl had been as relatively lucky as they were.

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R/R!


End file.
